XPS L702x maximum memory frequency

This is my first post here, so, Hello everybody!!

I'm getting a machine equipped with a i7-2720 processor which on intel's site says it supports memories at 1600Mhz.

Dell only sells 1333Mhz memories (in France). I asked Dell sales guys, but they were not able to answer me and asked me to call tech support. Anyway I purchased the laptop and now I'm waiting for it.

I'm asking because I said pass to the 8gb 1333 mhz upgrade offered by Dell France for 140 euros and considered that I can upgrade afterwards to 8 Gb 1600 mhz Hyperx PNP for 100 euros aftermarket.

These are the memories Kingston Technology Company - - Faster just got easier

They're suposed to configure by themselves to the maximum speed the machine is capable of operating it's memories.

So my question is, will the laptop support 1600 mhz ram? There's also an 1888 Mhz version of the dimms but I doubt they're be supported.

And as a side question, has anyone tested the HyperX pnp memories?

Thanks.

 

From what everyone has said and experienced dell has locked the system board down to only using 1333Mhz.

Also the chips should work fine in the system just not at 1600Mhz.

 

That's a pity. Thank you for the info.

But I am still wondering about those HyperX memories. They're too new, and people haven't been posting results yet. They advertise that they "Increase speed without changing system settings". In theory they should be able to set themselves to the maximum speed possible evet if your BIOS doesn't allow you to change the memory frequency.

 

It will not work, still get 1333 if the BIOS or chipset does not allow higher frequency. HyperX just contain info so a system supporting 1600 MHz will automatically set the memory to this.

You need usually a high end motherboard with an "entusiasts friendly" BIOS to use higher frequency. Dell and other big manufacturers in general do not enable any overclocking features in BIOS.

1600 MHz is officially supported by Intel on some CPUs and chipsets so I would not call it overclocking, but anything higher than that is not supported by Intel so you need usually to build your own PC using discrete components to be able to get the maximum performance. You still need BIOS support also even if the hardware you have can support higher frequency, which it looks XPS does not have.

 

Thank you for the detailed response. You've made it very clear for me.

I've renounced my desktop a long time ago, and I miss the freedom you had building your own system. Anyway for my current needs this generation of XPS is quite enough.

Thanks again for your time.

 

In regards to Kingston's HyperX PNP memories, here's a test
Kingston HyperX 8GB 1866MHz PnP Memory Kit For Notebooks - Sandy Bridge Notebooks Get HyperX Treatment - Legit Reviews

They ran it on
PROCESSOR Intel Core i5-2520M (3MB Cache, 2.5 GHz, 3.2GHz Max Turbo Boost)
SYSTEM ASUS K53E
BIOS K53E.207

 

FWIW: I got the newer HyperX PnP grey-colored 1600 (not 1866) memory, and with my current BIOS it detects as 1333 but runs CL8 rather than CL9.

 

OK Guys,

I have 4Gb RAM and 500Gb disk - do I spend £100 on 64Gb SSD or upgrade to 8Gb of fast RAM?

Let me know your thoughts

ANDREW

 

64GB SSD anyday! But if you can add an extra 60/70 pounds to buy a 120GB, just do it!

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120g...gb-s-mlc-flash-read-270mb-s-write-130mb-s-oem

Otherwise I would recommend you at least a 80GB one..

 

Both. If you would ask to upgrate 8 GB to 16 GB or an SSD I would say get the SSD. The problem is that for W7x64 you still get a good general performance increase when going to 8 GB from 4. You get less when going to 16 from 8, except for some programs like photo and video editing.

For SSD , also go to 120 GB if you can. Windows itself after install, with he page and hibernate files will already take around 30 GB. SSDs perform better when you have space available, don't try to load it close to maximum capacity.

But, if you are on the limit with the budget: get 8 GB memory (look for sales and get whatever is on sale, nothing fancy as the BIOS does support more than 1333 MHz. Also get whatever SSD is on sale even a SATA2 one will give you a visible improvement over the HD.

 

I agree with yukinok25.

I have an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD (120GB). The speed in opening up applications and transferring large data around is really noticeable. Visual studio opens up immediately as where previously it would take quite some time(2-3 seconds vs 15+ seconds). I haven't timed them for exact numbers. (Running on a T9600 sony vaio, 4G ram DDR2).

Everything opens up in an instant. Now on the other hand if what you need is more towards doing a lot of processing, then those faster memories will help you more. For example on archiving some files the speed increase can be of about 30%.